SEAL BEACH : Rockwell to Pull Plug on High-Voltage Lines

Rockwell International has agreed to pull the plug on high-voltage power lines connected to a nearby Southern California Edison plant that sparked protests from nearby residents.

Concerns over the safety of the 66,000-volt lines that sizzle and arc atop 80-foot-high towers led residents to collect more than 300 signatures calling for removal of the lines.

The lines themselves will stay, but the electricity coursing through them will be rerouted to other lines at a cost to Rockwell of $112,000, company officials said. Rockwell facilities manager Michael R. Baddley said the power lines, which will remain for backup, will be turned off by the end of February, after modifications of the company’s power generators are completed.

Resident Paul Yost, a 35-year-old physician who blanketed his neighborhood with a newsletter he created called Power Line News, said he was encouraged by Rockwell’s plans.

“They have been very responsive,” Yost said.

Southern California Edison Regional Manager Jerry Dominguez told City Council members he objected to language in a resolution calling for a “safe and aesthetically acceptable” alternative to the power lines.

“With regard to a statement that the facilities are an unnecessary hazard. . . . I’m not sure that’s something the city has in their purview,” Dominguez said.

Council members removed the word hazard from the resolution, but Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings said she hopes the “unsightly” power lines and poles can be removed entirely.

Dominguez said that would require an alternative route for the lines, which is under consideration.